Can anybody help me with this little query regarding HDD save data?

[Golfman]

Owning a 60GB launch PS3, my HDD space has now become so limited im having to delete, re-install(repeat etc.) game saves when i get a new game. Currently around half of my game collection i am unable to play because many of the big games like MGS4, Fallout 3 and Bioshock 2 use a lot of HDD space. I will be getting my HDD upgraded in the near future, but cant afford to just now. My question is: if i were to get a USB flash drive(around 20GB), would it be possible to simply transfer game save data from my PS3 to the flash drive, then transfer it back as an when needed(a bit like the memory cards for the PS2?), rather than having to back up the whole drive? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Aldo]

Simple answer... Yes.
Although some games like NFS Shift have copy protection so you cannot copy them from the PS3.
👍

 

[FoolKiller]

Owning a 60GB launch PS3, my HDD space has now become so limited im having to delete, re-install(repeat etc.) game saves when i get a new game. Currently around half of my game collection i am unable to play because many of the big games like MGS4, Fallout 3 and Bioshock 2 use a lot of HDD space. I will be getting my HDD upgraded in the near future, but cant afford to just now. My question is: if i were to get a USB flash drive(around 20GB), would it be possible to simply transfer game save data from my PS3 to the flash drive, then transfer it back as an when needed(a bit like the memory cards for the PS2?), rather than having to back up the whole drive? Any help would be much appreciated.

Game Save Data or Game Data? I assume you mean Game Data as saves often take up less than a megabyte.

I don't believe you can just copy Game Data like that, but I haven't tried. Game Saves for most games can be done that way.


All that said, why would you buy a ~20GB USB flash drive (I believe you will have to choose either 16GB or 32GB) when they are almost as expensive as an internal HDD would be? Looking at 16Gb flash drives you are looking at $30 and up. And looking at 32GB flash drives will be about $60 and up.

For the price of a 16GB flash drive you can get an internal 120GB HDD (doubling your storage space). And for the price of the 32GB flash drive you can get an internal 320GB HDD (Mine is currently 320GB).

Personally, if you can afford the 20GB Flash Drive I would suggest replacing your internal HDD now. It takes 10 minutes to make the physical switch. The only way I could see a reason for what you are doing would be if you needed the Flash Drive for something else as well. Even then I would suggest putting your just removed 60GB in an external USB case instead.

 

[Aldo]

Game Save Data or Game Data? I assume you mean Game Data as saves often take up less than a megabyte.

I don't believe you can just copy Game Data like that, but I haven't tried. Game Saves for most games can be done that way..

Ohhh...
I was refering to Game Saves Golfman by the way.
I too, am not sure about game data backing up etc.

 

[Ibonibo]

and forget about backing up game data. The transfer takes way too long. uninstall them all when you swap drives and reinstall them as you need them. Far less time consuming...

and like said above Hdd aren't that expensive, and you don't really need a 500gb. I have one since 2 years and i probably never get i full (except if you download a lot of movies...) and i have more than 20 games....

 

[eSZee]

Game Save Data or Game Data? I assume you mean Game Data as saves often take up less than a megabyte.

I don't believe you can just copy Game Data like that, but I haven't tried. Game Saves for most games can be done that way.


All that said, why would you buy a ~20GB USB flash drive (I believe you will have to choose either 16GB or 32GB) when they are almost as expensive as an internal HDD would be? Looking at 16Gb flash drives you are looking at $30 and up. And looking at 32GB flash drives will be about $60 and up.

For the price of a 16GB flash drive you can get an internal 120GB HDD (doubling your storage space). And for the price of the 32GB flash drive you can get an internal 320GB HDD (Mine is currently 320GB).

Personally, if you can afford the 20GB Flash Drive I would suggest replacing your internal HDD now. It takes 10 minutes to make the physical switch. The only way I could see a reason for what you are doing would be if you needed the Flash Drive for something else as well. Even then I would suggest putting your just removed 60GB in an external USB case instead.

What's the point of copying game data? It's just an install off the disk so whether he has it backed up makes no difference.

and forget about backing up game data. The transfer takes way too long. uninstall them all when you swap drives and reinstall them as you need them. Far less time consuming...

and like said above Hdd aren't that expensive, and you don't really need a 500gb. I have one since 2 years and i probably never get i full (except if you download a lot of movies...) and i have more than 20 games....

The drive is being replaced so why not just leave it and get on with the swap instead of wasting time deleting things?

 

[eSZee]

arghhhhhhhhhh

 

[Golfman]

EEK! Sorry, but the cost is only part of the problem. I know it only takes ten minutes but to upgrade my HDD i would need: 1) Flash drive anyway, just to store the latest PS3 update data to install when i finish the swap. 2) An external 60GB hardrive to store all my PS3's data so i dont lose anything. 3)A new HDD, 320GB is ideal.
Anyway, the other part of the problem is the hassle of actually finding a new HDD without having to travel. I dont own a credit card, so ordering over the 'net from Amazon is out, and the closest places i can get one from where i live is at PC world from either Glasgow or Carlisle, both involving a train trip and a walk/taxi to the store. As i said, money is tight just now so my query - the reason i started this thread - is just to find out if this short term solution is possible. The only games i would use this for are all the ones will little save space. The big ones (Oblivion, Bioshock 2, Fallout 3, MGS4, NFS:Shift) that use data/install saves of between 3 and 5GB i would keep on my HDD and not move. As i said, half of my game collection is lying reduntant because of this. 60GB sounded a lot when i first got my PS3, but the space soon vanishes.

 

[FoolKiller]

EEK! Sorry, but the cost is only part of the problem. I know it only takes ten minutes but to upgrade my HDD i would need: 1) Flash drive anyway, just to store the latest PS3 update data to install when i finish the swap.

Do you not have a way to put your PS3 online and install directly?

2) An external 60GB hardrive to store all my PS3's data so i dont lose anything. 3)A new HDD, 320GB is ideal.

Unless you have non-game related stuff on your PS3 that you would permanently lose with a disc swap you can back up nearly all game saves (some are locked) on a relatively small and cheap flash drive (1GB-2GB will fit update data too), then switch your HDD at just the cost of time for re-installing/re-downloading everything. Or in the case of me and my friends, they all borrowed the external hard drive that came in a bundle with my wife's new laptop. See if your friends have an external HDD you can borrow.

Anyway, the other part of the problem is the hassle of actually finding a new HDD without having to travel. I dont own a credit card, so ordering over the 'net from Amazon is out, and the closest places i can get one from where i live is at PC world from either Glasgow or Carlisle, both involving a train trip and a walk/taxi to the store.

Well, that creates a whole different issue.

As i said, money is tight just now so my query - the reason i started this thread - is just to find out if this short term solution is possible. The only games i would use this for are all the ones will little save space. The big ones (Oblivion, Bioshock 2, Fallout 3, MGS4, NFS:Shift) that use data/install saves of between 3 and 5GB i would keep on my HDD and not move.

I am not sure if teh game data is possible to back up like that. The easiest way to tell is to go to Game Data Utility and then find one of the files and hit Triangle. That will bring up the options list for that file. If it has "Copy" as an option then it may be possible. If I remember tonight I will properly test it when I get home and let you know.

As i said, half of my game collection is lying reduntant because of this. 60GB sounded a lot when i first got my PS3, but the space soon vanishes.

I was in the same situation about a year ago. Eventually I just started forcing myself to play through a game until it was finished or I had burned out on it and wouldn't be playing it for at least another month. At that point I would delete the data and install another.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Owning a 60GB launch PS3, my HDD space has now become so limited im having to delete, re-install(repeat etc.) game saves when i get a new game.

Just to be 100% clear, I believe you meant to say "game data", as game save files (located in the Saved Data Utility folder) are almost always very small, like KB size and not even MB size. So unless you have thousands of game saves, copying them to a flash drive isn't going to help you much.

Game data, on the other hand, (located in the Game Data Utility folder) are the files that some games require to be installed on your HDD, including any DLC add-ons that you download from the PSN store. Some of these files can be huge. However, they are copy protected (for obvious reasons), and so you can not copy them to an external drive of any kind, with a couple exceptions.

You can use the PS3 Backup Utility, but that will copy everything on your HDD as a single file, and to use it, you have to restore it, which will replace whatever is on your HDD, so in your case it wont help you in trying to manage your disc space.

You can also transfer all the contents on your HDD including copy protected files to another PS3 using the Data Transfer Utility, but again, that won't help you in this case.


So, basically, as has been mentioned by others already, you have two choices.

1. Keep deleting and re-installing game data and games when ever you need to make room.
   
   
2. Replace your HDD for a larger one.

Seeing as you will only need a USB drive to backup the contents on your HDD in order to restore it to the new HDD, perhaps you can find a friend who will lend you one just to do the transfer of data. That will save you from having to buy one, and thus apply the money you would have spent on the external drive towards a new HDD.


However, if you really did mean to say game saves, then as to your question:

My question is: if i were to get a USB flash drive(around 20GB), would it be possible to simply transfer game save data from my PS3 to the flash drive, then transfer it back as an when needed(a bit like the memory cards for the PS2?)

Yes, almost all game save files (not game data files), can be copied individually onto any type of external storage device you like. There are a few games that have copy protected game saves which can not be copied individually.

However, I'm confident that you'll find that game saves are so small, that even if you had a lot of them, it's very unlikely it would save you that much disc space to copy and then delete them.

 

[Golfman]

Okay here's another question you lot may be able to help me with. If I were to delete the Game Data for my big games(the ones like Bioshock 2 that use 4 or 5 GB space), but keep their Save Data, would I still have my progress in those games saved if I were to re-install the Game Data? I only ask because I refuse to delete the likes of Oblivion and Fallout 3 because I have spent over 50 hours on each and don't fancy starting them again!

 

[FoolKiller]

Okay here's another question you lot may be able to help me with. If I were to delete the Game Data for my big games(the ones like Bioshock 2 that use 4 or 5 GB space), but keep their Save Data, would I still have my progress in those games saved if I were to re-install the Game Data? I only ask because I refuse to delete the likes of Oblivion and Fallout 3 because I have spent over 50 hours on each and don't fancy starting them again!

The only games I have had to do this for were MGS4 and Bioshock, but keeping the save data while deleting game data did not cause me to lose any progress in those games.

 

[Golfman]

Thanks for your help.